Arrested Development and 13 Other Television Shows That Got Second Chances

One of the most beloved examples of a show rising above its unjust cancellation, Firefly managed to continue its story in the feature film Serenity just three years after the show’s untimely end. Though in some respects the film may have been a little disappointing, it was clearly a labor of love for everyone involved. You can’t stop the signal.

Jackass only ran for three seasons between 2000 and 2002. It did, however, go on to have a long and happy life as a film franchise: It spawned three theatrical releases, one of which was in 3D (of course), and one direct-to-DVD feature. Ryan Dunn’s horrific car accident earlier in the year may have put a stop to the stunts.

After the conclusion of the original British improve comedy spectacular Whose Line Is It, Anyway?, the show jumped across the pond and earned itself another 8 seasons with Drew Carey as its host. A lot of the American Whose Line cast, by the way, sometimes spend their time doing a Whose Line-esque stage show in Vegas.

Okay, admittedly the 1999 revival of Are You Afraid of the Dark? was kind of lame in comparison to its predecessor, but, I mean, really. This is Are You Afraid of the Dark? we’re talking about here. Any Are You Afraid of the Dark? is better than NO Are You Afraid of the Dark?.

TV Tropes believes that Family Guy may actually be the originator of the “Un Cancelled” trope. Fox put Family Guy on a lengthy hiatus, but then ordered production on new episodes once DVD sales started to go through the roof. Note the following piece of dialogue from the show’s returning episode:

Peter: Everyone, I've got bad news: We've been canceled.
Lois: Oh no, Peter, how could they do that?
Peter: Well unfortunately, Lois, there's just no more room on the schedule. We've just got to accept the fact that Fox has to make room for terrific shows like Dark Angel, Titus,Undeclared, Action, That 80's Show, Wonderfalls, Fast Lane, Andy Richter Controls The Universe, Skin, Girls Club, Cracking Up, The Pitts, Firefly, Get Real, Freakylinks, Wanda At Large, Costello, The Lone Gunmen, A Minute With Stan Hooper, Normal Ohio, Pasadena, Harsh Realm, Keen Eddie, The Street, American Embassy, Cedric The Entertainer,The Tick, Louie, and Greg the Bunny. *glances at Chris*
Lois: Is there no hope?
Peter: Well, I suppose if all those shows go down the tubes, we might have a shot.

Note that all of the shows named were cancelled extremely early in their runs. And some of them-- like Wonderfalls-- were really quite good!

Buffy has had a long history of coming back from near-death. First there was the movie; then there was the television show; then when it looked like the show was going to be cancelled after the 5th season, it simply moved networks; and even now, not content to end after seven seasons, it’s carrying on in a series of comics called Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight. Now we just have to hope that that reboot we keep hearing about never gets off the ground…

Futurama mostly suffered because no one ever knew when it was on. But Matt Groening’s non-Simpsons show has proven extremely resilient in spite of the deck constantly being stacked against it: After its original airing, it ran in reruns on the Cartoon Network for five years until the network’s contract expired; it had a series of straight-to-DVD films; and then finally, it was contracted by Comedy Central for brand new episodes starting in 2008. It just finished airing its sixth season a few weeks ago, and it’s been renewed for a seventh season. Hoorah! More Philip J. Fry for all!

Did you know that there was a series focusing on Tommy Pickles and the gang during their grade school years? Because there was. It was called All Grown Up!, and in it, all the characters were nine years older than they were in the original Rugrats. It ran from 2003 to 2008, and the fact that it exists just BLEW. MY MIND.

Another fan favorite, Doctor Who ended a nearly 30-year run in 1989. Fox attempted to revive it with a TV movie in 1996, but it wasn’t until 2005 that Queer as Folk creator Russell T. Davies successfully brought the time-traveling epic back into play. And boy are we glad that he did; as anyone who watches the show will tell you, it’s far better than us old school fans had ever hoped it could be. And that’s how you do it, my friends!

Hey, I never said all of these second chances were actually good ideas. Sex and the City is the show that just won’t die: After two lackluster follow-up films, there are now plans to do a prequel show based on Candace Bushnell’s YA novel The Carrie Diaries.

Ditto. I’m not entirely sure why Chris Carter felt the need to make a second X-Files film in 2008, but he did. It’s called The X-Files: I Want to Believe. And it’s bad. And it will never happen again.

Star Trek films have more or less become a cultural staple these days—I have memories of going to see a new one sometime around Thanksgiving for a number of years—but way before Star Trek: The Next Generation happened came Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Creator Gene Roddenberry spent the years following the original series’ cancellation in 1969 trying to convince Paramount to let him keep the franchise going through a film. Eventually he won out, leading to Star Trek’s first voyage to the big screen in 1979. Chances are that without Star Trek: The Motion Picture, every series to follow never would have happened.

From Ali G, we got Borat and Brüno. Success? I think so.